Jump to content

Faf du Plessis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 93.186.16.243 (talk) at 10:14, 7 September 2014. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Francois du Plessis
File:Faf du Plessis.jpg
Personal information
Full name
Francois du Plessis
Born (1984-07-13) 13 July 1984 (age 40)
Pretoria, Transvaal Province, South Africa
NicknameFaf, Marathon Man
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm leg-break
RoleMiddle order batsman
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 314)2 November 2012 v Australia
Last Test12 August 2014 v Zimbabwe
ODI debut (cap 101)18 January 2011 v India
Last ODI2 September 2014 v Australia
ODI shirt no.79
T20I debut (cap 52)8 September 2012 v England
Last T20I12 March 2014 v Australia
T20I shirt no.79
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2004–presentNortherns
2005–presentTitans
2008–2009Lancashire
2011–Chennai Super Kings
2012–Melbourne Renegades
2014–presentChennai Super Kings
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI T20 FC
Matches 17 53 100 92
Runs scored 1262 1503 2,051 5,401
Batting average 52.58 32.67 25.63 40.30
100s/50s 3/6 2/9 0/13 11/33
Top score 137 126 85 176
Balls bowled 78 150 790 2,558
Wickets 0 2 50 41
Bowling average n/a 71.00 18.34 36.02
5 wickets in innings 0 0 2 0
10 wickets in match 0 n/a 0 0
Best bowling 0/8 1/8 5/19 4/39
Catches/stumpings 10/– 30/– 33/– 84/–
Source: Cricinfo, September 2, 2014

Francois "Faf" du Plessis (/ˈduːplɛˌsi/ DOO-ple-SEE; born 13 July 1984 in Pretoria, Transvaal) is a South African cricketer.

He has played several matches at international level for the South African national cricket team. A right-handed middle order batsman who also bowls part-time leg spin, du Plessis has played South African domestic cricket for Northerns and the Titans, as well as matches for Lancashire, the Chennai Super Kings, and the Melbourne Renegades.

He made his Test debut in November 2012, he became the fourth South African to score a Test century on debut.[1] Du Plessis was subsequently also named T20 captain[2] of South Africa for the following Twenty20 series against New Zealand and confirmed full-time skipper in Feb 2013.[3]

Domestic Career

Faf Du Plessis was given a 6-month contract with Lancashire for the 2008 season starting in April as a Kolpak player after impressing the board with good performances in the local Nottinghamshire leagues for Mansfield Hosiery Mills Cricket Club and in the Lancashire League for Todmorden.[4][5] Du Plessis started his Lancashire account by scoring 55 against Durham UCCE before being dismissed by opening bowler Foster. Following his six month stint with Lancashire, du Plessis signed a new three-year deal with the club. Lancashire coach Mike Watkinson praised du Plessis' fielding, saying "if there's a better fielder in county cricket I've not seen him this season".[6] In March 2010, it was announced that du Plessis would no longer be allowed to play for Lancashire as a Kolpak player after changes to the Kolpak rules. In 2011, he was signed by the 2010 IPL Champions Chennai Super Kings for US$120,000 at the Indian Premier League player auction.[7]

Along with Jonathan Vandiar, Dean Elgar, and Ethi Mbhalati, du Plessis was one of four uncapped players to be named in South Africa's 30-man preliminary squad for the 2011 World Cup.[8] He was named one of the five South Africa Cricket Annual's Players Of The Year in 2011.

Du Plessis had a very successful season with the Chennai Super Kings scoring 398 runs in IPL 2012. Du Plessis has never got out for a duck in his career, until the qualifier 2 match against KXIP in IPL 2014 having been dismissed for a golden duck.

International Career

Faf made his ODI debut on January 18, 2011 against India and made unbeaten 60 runs. He was chosen ahead of Albie Morkel for 2011 World Cup in Indian Sub-continent

Francois made his Test debut for South Africa against Australia at Adelaide in 2012 as the number 6 batsman; due to the unfortunate injury and non-availability of JP Duminy.

He scored 188 runs in the match and was selected as Man-of-the-match for his resilient performance that ultimately led to the match being drawn and the series being square before the third and final test. He had scored 78 from 159 before being dismissed by Ben Hilfenhaus in the 1st innings, giving a 93-run 8th wicket partnership with injured Jacques Kallis (58 from 93).

Du Plessis subsequently was the last man to be dismissed, taking the South African score to 388 in reply to Australia's 550. In the 2nd innings, he scored a resilient match-saving 110* from 376 balls, a marathon knock which spanned 466 minutes to save the defeat. He again gave 99-run 6th wicket partnership with injured Jacques Kallis and together they ensured that South Africa ensure a draw on the 5th day.

In the next test at WACA Ground, he scored a resilient unbeaten 78 from 142 balls to take his team's score to 225 in the 1st innings, from 75/6 with able support from Robin Peterson (31 off 45), Vernon Philander (30 from 54) and last man Morne Morkel (17 from 15).

South Africa won this 3-match Test Series against Australia 1-0.

In December 2012, he was named captain of the South African T20 team for three matches against New Zealand.[9]

In October 2013, he was fined 50% of his match fee after being found guilty of ball tampering in a Test match against Pakistan.[10]

In December 2013, he scored a match saving hundred with score of 134 off 309 balls against India while chasing 458 to win in the 4th innings.

He made his maiden ODI hundred on August 27, 2014 against Australia scored 106 off 98 balls while chasing 327 runs to win. His partnership of 206 runs with AB de Villiers for the 3rd wicket is highest for South Africa against Australia.

His second Hundred came only 6 days later in his next ODI match on September 2, 2014. He scored 126 from 109 balls against the same oppostion but that went in vain as South Africa lost by 62 runs.

After making his maiden ODI hundred on 27 August 2014, and a consecutive ODI hundred on 2 September 2014, Du Plessis followed that feat with a third consecutive ODI hundred, scoring 121 off 140 balls, this time against Zimbabwe on 4 September 2014. (South Africa were playing an ODI tri-series with Australia and Zimbabwe.)

On 6 September 2014, against Australia, Du Plessis fell only 4 runs short of becoming only the first batsman ever to score 4 ODI hundreds in a row and in an ODI series. He initially looked on course to achieve his 4th ODI hundred until his batting partner AB de Villiers hit 2 sixes and a four in consecutive balls, which then meant Du Plessis technically had to obtain all the remaining runs single-handedly if he was to realistically achieve his 4th ODI hundred. Needing only 1 run to win the game, Du Plessis on 96 and therefore had to hit a boundary in order to reach 4 ODI hundreds in a row, but while attempting to hit a boundary he was caught off the bowling of Mitchell Johnson. South Africa still went on to win the ODI match against Australia comfortably by 6 wickets. This victory also secured South Africa as the winners of the ODI series. During the post-match presentation interview, in which he became Man of the Series, Du Plessis hinted that if he had reached his 4th ODI hundred, it would have also been his best ODI hundred of all 4 considering that it would have meant hitting the winning runs in the series for his team in the process.

Personal Life

Du Plessis attended Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Afrikaans High School for Boys, also known as Affies), a public school located in Pretoria. He attended alongside fellow Titans cricketers AB de Villiers, Heino Kuhn and Jacques Rudolph. He is also a graduate of the University of Pretoria. Du Plessis is a second cousin of Namibian rugby player Marcel du Plessis.

He was featured in the music video for the song "Maak Jou Drome Waar", a duet by AB de Villiers and Ampie du Preez.[11]

International centuries

Test centuries
# Runs Balls 4s 6s Against Venue Year Result
1 110* 376 14 0  Australia Adelaide Oval, Australia 2012 Match Drawn
2 137 252 14 2  New Zealand St George's Oval, Port Elizabeth, South Africa 2013
3 134 309 15 0  India Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, South Africa 2013 Match Drawn
ODI centuries
# Runs Balls 4s 6s Against Venue Year Result
1 106 98 11 1  Australia Harare Sports Club, Harare, Zimbabwe 2014 Match Won
2 126 109 8 6  Australia Harare Sports Club, Harare, Zimbabwe 2014 Match Lost
3 121 140 5 4  Zimbabwe Harare Sports Club, Harare, Zimbabwe 2014 Match Won

References

  1. ^ Scorecard, Wisden India, retrieved 26 November 2012
  2. ^ Du Plessis to lead South African Twenty20 side, Wisden India, retrieved 12 December 2012
  3. ^ Du Plessis takes over as T20 skipper, Wisden India, retrieved 20 February 2013
  4. ^ Lancashire sign du Plessis for 2008, Cricinfo.com, 30 November 2007, retrieved 30 November 2007
  5. ^ Lancs sign South African prospect, BBC Online, 30 November 2007, retrieved 30 November 2007
  6. ^ Du Plessis signs new Lancs deal, BBC Online, 19 August 2008, retrieved 19 August 2008
  7. ^ Rediff Staff (9 January 2011), Chennai buy du Plessis for $120,000, rediff.com
  8. ^ ESPNcricinfo staff (14 December), Rudolph in preliminary South Africa World Cup squad, retrieved 2010-12-14 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ Du Plessis to lead South African Twenty20 side, Wisden India, retrieved 12 December 2012
  10. ^ Ali, Rizwan (26 October 2013), South Africa's Faf du Plessis fined 50 per cent of match fee for ball tampering, London: The Independent, retrieved 26 October 2013
  11. ^ "AB de Villiers & Ampie du Preez – Maak Jou Drome Waar". YouTube. 27 April 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2012.

Template:Titans cricket team

Template:South Africa Squad 2012 ICC World Twenty20 Template:South Africa Squad 2014 ICC World Twenty20

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Faf_du_Plessis&oldid=624523060"